


Who Dares To Love Forever? - Sex Work AU

by mansikka



Series: Who Dares To Love Forever? [8]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, M/M, Memories, Mirrors, No Sex, POV Magnus Bane, Sex Work, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 14:20:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23013250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: A difficult meeting at the Clave forces a conversation about the one thing Magnus and Alec aren’t ready to even think about. After much reflection and research, Alec embarks on a journey to become immortal. Though with ceremonies to perform, sacrifices to be made, and an unexpected ‘gift’ from an absent Asmodeus, what will they both have to endure, to get their truly happy ever after?
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Who Dares To Love Forever? [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602904
Comments: 14
Kudos: 77
Collections: SHBingo





	Who Dares To Love Forever? - Sex Work AU

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> Okay first thing: I've put a 'recap' before this chapter starts since I got a few 'well this doesn't make sense' messages last week. Remember, they just got married, there is a curse put on them by Asmodeus which means they have to go through a mirror to other dimensions to experience other versions of themselves to break the curse. As per previous notes, each chapter starts with an AU in past tense to show them in alternative dimensions, and then flips to present tense to show they're back in 'this' world. Finagling bingo squares into one fic is _hard_, and is the _only_ reason this thing is a series instead of a multichapter!!
> 
> Second thing: this is for the bingo square **sex work au** which, in its first writing, would have been oh so very wrong to fit into this story, for a lack of agency and consent and all kinds of other things. I didn't want to put our lovely Malec through that! So that version isn't posting and you get this far softer one instead. To reassure you, _if you don't like that kind of thing anyway, what looks like is about to happen in this chapter really, really isn't._ Though I'll put a warning in the end notes as well so you can check first.

**Recap:** this will make much more sense if you read the '[curses](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22679497)' chapter of this story first, but if you don't want to do that, here are two recaps from it.

**Recap #1:** "I know. But neither of you—none of us—anticipated your dad's interference," Catarina explains, looking sorry for them both, which Alec hates. What could Asmodeus possibly have done to them?

"Meaning, what?"

"Meaning… I don't know," Catarina says, her hands slapping down by her sides. "Magnus?"

"Alexander," Magnus says softly, closing his eyes, and sagging.

"Magnus? What is it?"

Magnus' smile is soft, and even sad, which Alec hadn't planned on seeing the day after their second wedding; or any day, in fact. "It's you, I believe."

"Me, what?"

"My father saw my loving you, my love for you, as a weakness," he tells him, gently taking his hand.

"I know," Alec agrees, remembering his conversation with Asmodeus and still feeling cold for it. How he ever let so much self-doubt creep in so he would believe him Alec still curses himself for after all these years. "He said I'd be the death of you."

"More like the life of me," Magnus mumbles half under his breath, squeezing his hand in reassurance. "We will figure this out, never fear."

"Figure what out?"

"I think that since Magnus can only use his magic to summon things here, and to use here, that Asmodeus must have put some kind of… I don't know? What would you call it?"

"Aside from a final cruelty from a father who—"

"Aside from that, yes," Catarina says, raising her hands in defense to placate him, "let's keep this practical."

"I think perhaps Asmodeus found a way to… bind my blood to this place, so I cannot go anywhere. And since you are now bound to me, in all manner of ways—"

"I'm bound here with you?" Alec finishes for him as he looks around them.

"Seems that way."

Alec watches with little hope as Catarina then opens a portal, and he and Magnus attempt to step through. They are both thrown backward with force, grumbling as they help one another up checking for bruises from their fall.

"And what does that mean for us?" Alec asks as he dusts off Magnus' back, clouds of it billowing upwards to make him cough.

"It means, that in order to, I suppose, purify your blood, Magnus, to remove this curse of your father's, you and Alec are going to have to… figure out what your dad intended. I'll assume since it sounds like he had a problem with your relationship, it's going to be something that you need to endure to… prove its validity?"

"Endure doesn't sound like a lot of fun," Alec says, not liking the way Magnus seems to tense beside him.

"That's because it's not. How could it be? What nonsense would he have conjured purely for his entertainment?"

The three of them begin to scour the chamber looking for any clues that might tell them what is expected of them. It takes them an hour to find it; a dimple in one of its walls that, when Magnus presses his palm against it, reveals a small hole to its side that can only be viewed from one angle. Beside it is carved the words votre sang.

"He wants our blood in here?" Alec says as he peers in to see the hole narrow and slope away.

"I suppose," Magnus replies.

"Why's it written in French?"

"An inside joke, I am sure. My father had a far fonder memory of our time together in Marseille than I," Magnus adds, with a bitter grimace.

"So, we're just supposed to—"

Alec watches Magnus tuck his fingers into the hole and sigh, pressing them down with a soft intake of breath. He reaches for him in alarm for the bright splash of red now across his fingers, though realizes when nothing happens that he'll probably need to do the same. Magnus' smile for him is pinched as he slots his non-injured fingers through Alec's, nodding towards the wall in resignation.

"I'm sorry, Alexander. Though if we are to find a way out of this—"

"You don't think my blood being different now is going to be a problem?"

"Well. We only have one way of finding out."

Alec sighs, tucking his fingers into the hole and pressing down, wincing for the sting across the tips of them. He steps back in alarm when the wall begins to shudder and shift, opening slowly in a manner Alec imagines a portal would; if it were made of stone.

The wall now open, the three of them peer inside, finding a long, narrow hallway with a slight shimmer of light at the end. Alec realizes when he moves that it's only a reflection from the chamber they're in, that Magnus has lit. He is already dreading what is waiting for them for not having any idea what Asmodeus could possibly have wanted. Whatever it is has to be bad, for the look that still hasn't left Magnus' face.

* * *

**Recap #2:** On one wall there seem to be instructions for them, written in an older dialect of French that Alec has trouble understanding many words of. Though he thinks he can pick out the phrase soulmate, and alternate dimension, and doesn't like the way Magnus continues to grumble under his breath.

"Oh, my father is very entertaining," Magnus says, turning to examine the mirror in thought with a cold blast of laughter.

"Meaning, what?"

"Meaning, that he intends for us to prove our love for one another, by proving we are… soulmates."

"Okay, so what does that involve?"

Magnus waves back at the message on the wall before calling Alec's attention to the mirror. "It appears that this is a doorway between dimensions, or realities, I suppose."

"Like… the one Meliorn opened for Clary?"

"Similar. Though what difference this makes for this one being created by a Prince of Hell instead of the Seelies, I do not know."

"Okay." Alec knows a little of what both Clary and Jace experienced, though has never been curious enough to ask more. Soulmates doesn't sound like anything bad; it's how he feels about Magnus anyway. How awful could this possibly be?

"Alexander," Magnus says, clearing his throat and giving that tiny flicker of a smile he does whenever about to say something difficult. "It appears my father anticipated our union. This one."

Alec watches the way he waves over where his wedded rune is, and presses his hand over his for feeling Magnus' conflict pulse through him. "Okay, well. That's not a bad thing, right?"

"I also suspect that he thought the subject of immortality might… occur to you," Magnus adds, looking at the mirror in mistrust.

"Oh."

"In any case. I'm not sure if that even makes any difference. The point is, I don't think we can leave this place until we go through there."

Alec follows the point of Magnus' finger at the mirrored doorway. "So. What's in there?"

"Us. Well. Versions of us, in any case."

"Like… alternative realities of us?"

"It appears my father wants us to… experience ourselves, in other dimensions."

"...why?" Alec asks, not understanding at all.

"I suppose he hopes to—that he wants for us to seek ourselves out in there, experience their lives, and prove that, no matter what we find, we are still in love. That's what I think this message is attempting to say, anyway," Magnus says, casting another suspicious glance back at the wall. "His French really was never that good."

Alec tries to imagine it, but can't. "Well—"

"I don't think we have any choice," Magnus adds, and as though to prove it, he drops Alec's hand, beginning to test the room and doorway with his magic. His smile is apologetic when he returns to his side.

* * *

**...Sex Work AU chapter starting... NOW!**

The sharp wrap of knuckles against the Pandemonium office door sparked heat in Magnus' core for what was about to happen. It had been too long, and since he'd sworn off relationships for at least the next decade or so, Magnus had been convincing himself he didn't need any of the things that went with a relationship. If he wanted _relief_ he had his hands, and a box full of toys that satisfied any biological functions he needed to deal with.

But that had never been solely enough for him; not really. Magnus loved sex, the heat of a warm body, the shared bliss of letting go with another person; even if they'd be gone first thing in the morning and he'd never see them again. He didn't want the caring, and the responsibility of being with someone. He wanted someone to _use_ at this point, who he could discard and never have to make awkward conversation with, or block their number when he had no intention of returning their call. The problem with hooking up with random people even here in the relative discretion of his club was that there would always be the risk of one of them lingering. Magnus wanted no attachments. The solution to that itch he needed to scratch was still stood on the other side of that door.

Without moving from his couch Magnus gave a lazy swirl of his fingers to unlock the door just long enough for the man to step inside. He was tall, beautiful, and defiant in the way he stared back at him, almost soldier-like, in a way. There was no way Magnus would imagine the man indulging in this kind of work if he'd passed him on the street, but then wasn't that just stereotyping, or passing judgment? And thinking too much? He was paying for a service here, and if the servicing happened to be by a man looking like this one, well, what harm was there to be had?

"Your money's on the side," Magnus said, giving a careless wave of his arm putting a stack of bills on a small table by the door. The man glanced to check then turned back to him, looking even more determined, and the movement brought to Magnus' attention the large rune on his neck. Magnus had been _serviced_ by Shadowhunters before, but this one was pretty enough for him not to want to rush. Which he knew was a thought process that would lead to a mistake if he didn't quickly rectify the situation.

"On your knees," he told him, casually sipping from his glass of bourbon as he sank a little more down the couch to part his thighs. His company for the evening—which wouldn't be staying long; not for how riled up Magnus was—dropped down as asked without breaking eye contact. Though then the man's eyes flared wider in recognition, his mouth falling open in surprise. Magnus' stomach gave a violent jolt as the world around him shifted, familiarity with the person kneeling in front of him making his head spin. On the tip of his tongue as he found himself on a cold cavern floor was, _there you are_. Though the only word to come out was in the form of a question. "Alexander?"

* * *

Alec stands first, his eyes wide in alarm as he repeatedly shakes his head. "Were we about to—"

"I don't know."

"But you were gonna pay me to—"

"Alexander. No; I would never," Magnus says, half-expecting Alec to flinch from his touch when he reaches for him, swept up in relief when Alec only takes his hand. Though both of them still need a little time to process. Magnus conjures them first a bottle of scotch and glasses, and then a couch that they immediately sink into.

"That was… I don't know what that was," Alec says as he absently takes a glass from him but doesn't drink.

"I don't _want_ to know what that was." Though Magnus knows _exactly_ what that was. How can Alec bear to look at him for knowing he was about to be, well. _Used_?

To Magnus' relief, once Alec has tossed back his drink and extended his glass for a refill, there is a smile on his face. It is incredulous, and still filled with disbelief. Though he doesn't look anywhere near as uncomfortable as Magnus might expect.

"Well. There is no way I would _ever_ do… _that_," Alec says, taking another gulp from his glass.

"No. Me neither. Either things. From either perspective, I wouldn't—"

Alec kisses him quiet, his eyes crinkling in mirth. "Well. I guess we can't know how our lives would be in every one of these universes, right? What our circumstances might be, or—"

"I can't bear the thought, even for a second, that your circumstances would lead to you needing to—"

"Hey," Alec says, cupping his face and shaking his head. "We're back. We're here now. None of that is _us_. Okay? We're okay."

Magnus would quite like to get his father back from limbo just to knock him out—this time with his _fists_—then send him away again. This is _barbaric_. Though if Magnus is honest, out of everything they have experienced so far, this one is by far the worst. He has to hope there are better things to come. Magnus is still convinced Alec will be more upset about this if he thinks on things for longer, but for now Alec only raises his arm for Magnus to tuck into his side, kissing him absently on the temple.

"Can we just… _wait_ a little before we go through again? I need a minute," Alec says, the only indication he is giving about not being as _okay_ as he is pretending.

"Of course. We'll take as long as you need."

Alec hums, draining a second glass. Magnus refills it again, knocking back his own to catch up with him. And together they sit in silence, surveying the chamber flickering by candlelight, the strange mirror that is leading them to all of these worlds looking both innocent and ominous a few feet from them.

"You think your dad chose some of these places, Magnus? These worlds, specifically?"

Magnus doesn't know, though suspects if he _had_, the situations they would have found themselves in by now would be so much worse. "I'm not sure."

"I think maybe he didn't. That maybe he wanted us to experience whatever came up for us, to prove we could… I don't know, To prove we would still be together, no matter what? That we could survive anything? Even things that… even things like _that_?" Alec says, nodding towards the mirror. Magnus can only assume he means the _world_ they just came from.

"Alexander. I would endure anything and everything for you. To _be_ with you."

Alec turns enough to kiss him. "You already endured enough for me. And for _everything_—for everyone. We'll get through this, like we've got through everything else, and then we're going _home_. And it's going to be _peaceful_; whatever happens. We deserve that; you deserve that."

Magnus sighs as he lets his head fall on Alec's shoulder, aching for that part of their lives to be here already. A long stretch of _forever_ free of responsibility and worry. Surely after everything, they really have both earned that?

"You know. Magnus. It's nothing like any of _that_. But a few years ago; maybe a lot of years ago—I've lost count. I'd just come back from patrol. I had a really big argument with my Mom because of some paperwork that hadn't been filed by Jace. Izzy was out doing… I don't even want to think what. But whatever _hadn't_ been done, was obviously my fault. And I'd just… Magnus, I'd had enough."

"I can imagine," Magnus agrees, still exasperated even now to think that Alec's life before him was one only of service, that he never took even a moment to enjoy his life at all.

"I'd never been to any Mundane places—clubs, bars, whatever. I'd never even _drank_ anything back then."

Magnus nods in encouragement for him to keep speaking, intrigued when his cheeks light with uncharacteristic blush and Alec ducks his head to hide his smile. "What is it?"

"I walked into this bar. Sat _at_ the bar. Pointed to whatever the person next to me was ordering. Drank it; I can't even tell you how it tasted. Probably bad."

Magnus takes his turn to hide his smile for remembering the look on Alec's face when they'd first had a drink together. He takes the moment out to replay so many times, one of so many cherished moments with Alec. As always he is excited for so many more of them; especially when they are away from this little _adventure_ set up for them by his father.

"Anyway," Alec says, with an embarrassed clearing of this throat. "I don't really know what happened. But the next thing I know, is I've moved to… somewhere inside the club, in the back, and I… Magnus. They thought I was there to _audition_."

For the squeak in Alec's voice, Magnus cuddles closer, for the mortification now creeping across his face. "Audition? For what?"

"For _dancing_."

"Dancing."

"For... _that_ kind of dancing," Alec says, his blush only deepening as he points at Magnus' lap.

Oh.

"Lap dancing?" Magnus asks, sure, up until that point that Alec's only experience with _lap dancing_ was _him_ getting drunk and giving one to Alec one night forming yet another cherished memory for the… outcome.

"Yes."

"They thought you were there to audition to be a _lap dancer_?" Magnus repeats, desperately now trying not to imagine it. Alec, still with that startled look about him that Magnus remembers so well, being expected to dance, provocatively, for strangers? Magnus drains his drink to stop the _titter_ threatening to burst out.

"They did. They—they said something about my clothes making me look more like a stripper, but—"

"You went there straight from a patrol?" Magnus asks, already picturing his _favorite_ leather pants on Alec, and the sheer sleeveless shirt he'd coaxed him into wearing one evening for some altogether different dancing of their own. Magnus' imagination adds the fingerless gloves Alec used to favor wearing, and of course wraps a thigh holster around his leg, leaving Magnus shifting and discreetly clearing his throat.

Alec gives him a knowing look before rolling his eyes, and kissing him. "I did."

"Well. I would have no objection to you wearing such attire and… performing such a dance—for _me_."

Alec's smile is wicked as he kisses him, mouthing at his jaw. "Would you _pay_ me for it?"

Magnus is flustered, having no idea how he's supposed to respond. "I—"

Alec snorts with laughter, draining his glass once on his feet, and tugging Magnus up with him. "Let's _go_, Magnus. Let's get this next one over with. It can't get any worse, right?"

Magnus gives the mirror a doubtful once over before draining his glass as well, squeezing Alec's hand back and reluctantly stepping towards the mirror once again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> This starts with what looks like Magnus about to pay Alec to give him a blow job in this alternative reality, though they 'wake up' before anything can happen and are back in 'our' reality. There isn't actually any sex of any kind at all in this chapter, it's just marked mature because it _looks_ like there might be.


End file.
